Galaxy's Dawn
by Raia Amell
Summary: Part 1 of 3 - Alternating points of view - AU! Vance hated his father and sister for abandoning him and fleeing their broken home. So what happens when a chance encounter reunites him with his long lost sister? Will he be able to put everything aside and work with her to save the Galaxy from the Geth or will Victoria show him another side to the story?
1. Chapter 1 - Go your own way

"What do you mean you're going to the Einstein?" Malcolm watched the steam roll off his coffee, already bored of the exchange; "What happened to retiring and allowing our children - our _family_ \- an ordinary life?"

"The _SSV Einstein_ gives us an ordinary life!" Hannah placed her empty coffee mug in the dishwasher, using the action to hide her eye-rolling from Malcolm; "The Brass promised me a promotion within two years if I agreed to the posting, which means more shore time. Eventually."

Malcolm could feel Hannah's excitement sapping his strength. A dull throbbing wormed its way up his neck, gnawing at the base of his skull. 'Retirement' had turned into a constant theme of dispute for them and Malcolm was struggling to ignore the voices in his mind: She cares more about the _Alliance than she does about you!_ He pressed his fists into his temples hoping to stave off the migraine certain to follow.

He had always known she was an Alliance career woman, hell that was half the reason he was so attracted to her in the beginning. Back when he was a solider in the Alliance forces, he had every intention of supporting her as she rose through the ranks. It had also been his dream.

They made their relationship work - meeting up in Vancouver, London, Rio De Janeiro; wherever they could gain a joint posting groundside. The discovery of the Prothean Ruins on Mars followed by the discovery of the Mass Relays meant Joint postings for Army and Navy were frequent, and they spent nearly every deployment together.

But that was back when they were nothing more than Gunnery Chief Hannah and Operations Chief Malcolm. _Everything changed for me when Hannah had the twins._ Malcolm took a sip of his coffee, cringing at the cooled liquid; _obviously not for her_.

"The _Brass_ also promised that this posting would keep us _all_ groundside for more than a year," Malcolm pushed his now cold coffee aside. Grabbing a crystal tumbler from the stainless steel serving tray on the dining table and pouring himself a generous amount of whiskey; "and yet here we are at month four. Hannah the kids have only just adjusted to school - what are we supposed to tell them?"

Hannah leaned against the kitchen counter folding her arms over her chest and tilting her head to the side, annoyed; "We tell them that I am being posted to the SSV Einstein. They're kids, Malcolm."

"That is my point, Hannah!" Malcolm put the crystal tumbler down a little too hard, sloshing the whiskey onto the tablecloth, biting back his anger; "They're children. That lifestyle was ok for us, but it's not just us anymore - hasn't been for a while. They need stability!"

 _How is this still up for discussion?!_ Malcolm remembered the excitement and terror that bubbled in his gut while butterflies whipped up a storm in his chest when it sank in that he would be a dad; he remembered being in the middle of a combat simulation run when he found out and was so impatient to get to the hospital, that his best friend, Steven Hackett had to drive him; he remembered wearing a hole in the hospital waiting room floor while Hannah was in the operating theatre.

"The Alliance is stable!" Hannah ran a hand through her auburn hair, scratching her scalp as she counted to five before responding; "Look, this post is a fantastic opportunity for me and they will get to experience space life - I'm taking the posting."

Malcolm pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a defeated sigh as Hannah left the room. The dull throbbing had stretched behind his eyes, pushing sparks into Malcolm's vision. Ever since the first contact war ended, Hannah had been different. At first he attributed it to the stress of the job; that she would settle down and relax into a civilian lifestyle with the children after the war, but she didn't. Work became her priority. Intel on the Turians, Asari, Batarians, Hanar and other races - articles on anatomy, lifespan, space crafts, weaponry, armor, language - littered their study as Hannah poured over the dossiers. Absorbing every piece of information held within the pages.

By the time the twins were old enough to speak, Hannah was almost fluent in the Turian dialect, capable of holding a conversation without a translator though without the distinct flanging effect, Malcolm was always curious how exact her speech was. The memory of Hannah catching Victoria reading the dossier labelled 'Biotics: Asari vs Humans' left a bitter taste in his mouth. If he hadn't walked into the room to see what the yelling was about, he was certain she would've slapped Victoria. Their relationship only grew worse from that point.

He downed the rest of his whiskey, savoring the rich burn against his tongue before swallowing the amber liquid. A small silhouette hiding in the darkness of the living room shifted and Malcolm jumped out of his skin. The soft glow from the moon illuminated Victoria enough to calm Malcolm's heart when he got closer. He inwardly cursed, wondering how long she had been there. Victoria kept her gaze trained on her black and white stripped compression socks, picking at a piece of lint on her nightgown. Her auburn hair still wet from her shower.

"It's ok daddy, I haven't properly unpacked yet."

Malcolm's heart clenched at the realization that she overheard enough. He sat next to Victoria and pulled her into his lap. She handed him a hairbrush and tie then squirmed from his grasp, sitting between his legs with her back facing him. Ignoring everything else, he focused on Victoria recounting her day as he brushed and braided her hair.

oOo

The bedside alarm buzzed to life at 6am. Malcolm tossed the covers aside and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes. With practiced efficiency he switched the alarm to the radio and headed into the bathroom. His razor, shaving cream, toothbrush and toothpaste sitting beside the sink; a clean pair of trousers and a plain red polo shirt hung up behind the bathroom door; a clean pair of socks and boxers sat atop his shoes by the laundry basket. The Alliance News Network reporter droned on about the current events - opinion pieces on the Mass Relays and updates from the colonies and Earth - turned to background noise while Malcolm set about his usual morning routine.

Down the hall he heard a heavy thud followed by a small squeal. Malcolm stilled and listened; He could hear Vance speaking to Victoria but could not make out the words. He tied his laces and made his half of the bed - taking note that Hannah's half looked untouched - grabbed a glass of water from the bathroom and headed towards Victoria's room.

"Come on Victoria we'll be late!" Vance stood off to the side, arms crossed with a scowl on his face, the spitting image of his mother. Victoria knelt on the floor rubbing her backside, still in her nightgown.

"Mum will be back soon to take us to school. She said to be ready!" He grabbed a uniform from her closet and threw it on the bed.

"I'm not going. I feel sick." Victoria lifted herself off the ground and crawled back onto the bed, pulling the covers over her head. Large tears spilled from her bloodshot eyes.

Malcolm ushered his son out the room, promising him that she'd be ready soon and closed the door. He placed the glass of water on the bedside table and closed the blinds, blocking out the strong light from the sun. He listened to Victoria whimper and sob beneath the covers as he grabbed the painkillers from the top drawer of her little vanity table. She emerged from under the covers slowly.

"Good morning kiddo," Malcolm cooed as he handed her a tablet and the glass of water. Waiting as she tried to swallow the tablet, "One more day to get through, ok?"

"Can you stay home with me, or take me to school." Malcolm watched as Victoria put the glass on the bedside table.

"What's wrong?" He pursed his lips together and caressed her cheek, wiping the moisture from her tear stained face. She had been crying for a while.

"Mum hates me," her breathing hitched; her strangled sob carved a hole in Malcolm's heart; "She wants to send me away to Jump Zero!"

Malcolm held her small body close to his chest, stroking her back as he rocked back and forth. Letting her wail into his shirt. He stared at the ceiling and prayed to anyone who would listen to give him strength. Jump Zero, he knew, was the bogeyman. The rumors were different but similarly themed: those who went to Jump Zero were never heard from again. Though he knew better than to believe the rumors, they were still disturbing.

"I see," he mused; "Sweetheart, she won't send you away. I promise. When we move, I will be right there with you no matter what, ok? Time to dry those eyes, we will be late!"

He smirked as he watched Victoria's expression change from utter sorrow to shock. She tried to deter the incoming attack too late. He descending upon her and tickled her, avoiding her failing limbs he smiled as she burst into fits of laughter. He lifted her off the bed, setting her on the floor and pointed her towards the closet.

"Get dressed and wash your face. I will take you to school." He grabbed her backpack and put it on the bed while she dawdled into her bathroom to change. He turned to leave the room when he heard her call back in approval. The door to the room swung open; Hannah marched into the bedroom yelling for Victoria to hurry, the same scowl that Vance wore, now plastered on his wife's features.

Malcolm moved between Hannah and the ensuite door. Folding his arms over his chest and steeling his gaze, anger swam through his veins; "Threatening her with Jump Zero. Really? You've traumatized her - I'll run the kids to school. Just go back to work."

Vance jogged down the hallway, backpack slung over his shoulder waving goodbye as he flung himself down the stairs towards Hannah's skycar.

"I have a panel and an assessment today for the SSV Einstein, and Vance is coming with me. So Victoria is all yours." Hannah turned to look at Malcolm; "We won't be back until late, if not tomorrow."

"Yeah, fine" He nodded, already tired. _Just one more day_.

oOo

Malcolm sat on a park bench outside the Alliance Systems Science Division HQ; last night's leftover stir-fry sat untouched beside him. The wind tousled his hair, pushing strands into his face which tickled his nostrils. He ran his hand through his hair and inhaled deeply. He loved it in New York. Central Park sat unchanged throughout the centuries - ducks still swam around the man-made lake, birds still flew about the trees high above him and families still came to the great lawn to enjoy a picnic under the clear blue sky. He looked up to admire the skycars and Alliance shuttles flying high above the park, the whining thrum of their cores almost melodic against the beauty of the day, the only place to see two worlds collide. Closing his eyes to enjoy the warm summer sun, he was in awe of Earth. The weather was perfect - not too hot, not too breezy and enough clouds in the sky to cover the sun when the rays became a touch too strong - nothing could compare to the feel of real sunlight kissing his skin, real air -pungent and fragrant at the same time - filling his nose and lungs; the cool wetness of real water, crispness of real leaves - the bone chilling frost of a real New York winter.

A larger man waddled along the pathway, pushing a cart of hotdogs. Malcolm whistled and waved the man over as he grabbed his alliance issued wallet from his pocket, handing him a one dollar note for a roll of bread. He tore the bread into pieces and tossed it towards the ducks, chuckling as they all fought over the bit of bread. Just as the larger duck won the battle he tossed more pieces into the water for the other ducks. He ran out of bread too quickly and leaned back into the bench and crossed his right leg over his left entertaining himself with idle thoughts of the world before the ruins on Mars had been discovered.

The loud ping of the omni-tool pulled Malcolm from his moment of peace; Malcolm released a breath he didn't even realise he was holding. Quickly typing back a reply he pulled the lunchbox onto his lap and picked at his food, nibbling the stir-fried vegetables one at a time.

It had been far too long since Malcolm had spent any time with Steven. It was shameful that there was no correspondence between the two since the twins' birthday party last April. He bit into a strip of beef and quickly shoved a piece of broccoli into his mouth. Taking his annoyance out on the food. Some friend he was; to ignore people for so long and reach out to them without interest or concern for their life.

"Shepard! I was glad to hear from you. You had me worried." Steven Hackett dropped himself onto the bench with all the grace of a drunkard; "I've got news! I've been posted back to Arcturus Station. We will coordinate the colonization efforts from there."

Malcolm smiled at the Staff Commander, listening to Hackett's grand plans for beyond the Sol System. Demeter had been a huge success for humanity and while the process had gone smoothly, there was massive room for improvement. Several other planets had been identified and selected for colonization: Elysium was colonized the previous year and the colony was standing strong despite the pirates and slavers; Mindoir was in the final stages of preparation with colonist applications being accepted from October. It was to become a farming colony on the edge of the Attican Traverse - if they could get it flourishing then the Alliance would hold more of a presence there. Hackett felt that aggressive colonisation was the best chance humanity had to establishing itself on a galactic level.

Hackett produced several light blue files from his briefcase, fat with thick booklets; colonist dossiers for Mindoir. Malcolm stared at Hackett his mouth open in surprise. Shrugging, Hackett explained that it was far easier to get paper dossiers out of Alliance HQ than it was to log into the extranet from here. Since Malcolm was as formidable with intelligence gathering as he was with any weapon, he would make the short-listing process much easier. Malcolm flicked his omni-tool to private and grabbed a dossier from Hackett; settling into the park bench as he flipped open the booklet: B _axter, Jamieson A; Mechanic._

The sun had slipped down the horizon, faint streaks of pink ran across the pale blue sky. The light coming from the sun was almost painful. As if they read each other's mind both Hackett and Malcolm pulled a pair of Alliance issued sunglasses from their pocket and slid them over their eyes. They had gone through almost two hundred dossiers, ruling out over half of them. If they didn't have a criminal record, they were unsuitable for the colony. Malcolm had noticed quite a few dossiers showcasing minors; he tossed them aside without looking. Colonization was hard enough without having to deal with know it all teenagers.

Malcolm looked over at Hackett who was reading someone's background and history, then turned back to the abstract on Mindoir. The more he read about the colony, the more he understood the potential. Reading over the notes and plans excited him in a way that little else had in years.

"Steven, I need a favour."

oOo

Malcolm had spent most of his afternoon with Hackett, helping him short-list potential candidates for the Mindoir colony until the New York Academy got through to his private line - Vance had been in a fight.

The administration building sat in the centre of the school campus, towering over the other buildings. Perfectly manicured garden beds with red, yellow and white roses; rainbow chrysanthemums; Daylily's and other flowers lined the smooth stone pathway. While nice, the floral scents were overpowering. Malcolm crinkled his nose and pushed forward faster. Without looking up from her work the receptionist welcomed him and waved towards a holo-form. Her omni-tool barely blipped when she flicked it open, rapidly tapped a response and turned her attention to Malcolm, flashing him a gleaming white smile as she delivered the news: "The principal will see you now."

Malcolm was a scared 10-year-old again. The hallway between the receptionist and the principals office felt too long - made worse by the worn beige carpets that melded into the worn beige walls and holo-frames with the mug shot of all faculty heads at eye level. Office workers strode past him busy with her own work, he knew, but he couldn't shake the feeling that their eyes were on him. The air smelled of discipline and printer toner with a hint of broken dreams. He fastened the button on his blazer and rolled his shoulders back to square off his posture.

The closed door to the principals office stood tall and imposing. Taking a few deep breaths he shook his omni-tool to life and swiped the datapad tracker on the wall to signal his arrival. The door whooshed open revealing an all too familiar scene. with their backs turned to him, Victoria sat on Vance's left watching her shoes as she swung her feet beneath her chair, she held Vance's hand as he sat straight in his chair, his clothes looking ruffled and another boy sat awkwardly in his chair to the right. Sitting more on his right side, hunched over with a compress on his lap. Malcolm caught himself doing a double take; the other boy looked older. The principal sat behind his desk, hands folded together in front of him with a deadpan look on his face, his face mirroring Malcolm's emotions towards the entire affair.

A woman clearing her throat drew Malcolm's attention to her. She was older - crows feet and bunny lines extended from the corners of her eyes, her eyebrows and forehead creased into a frown; heavy make up that was a shade too orange and a little large for her frame but not entirely unattractive. Malcolm offered a half hearted smile but let it slip from his lips when she glared daggers at him, crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip to the side. Annoyed that she had to wait.

He walked over to the children and rested his hands on his kids' shoulders, leaning into them a little to let them know he had arrived. Victoria craned her neck to look up at him, giving a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. When he cocked his eyebrow at her she returned to staring at her shoes. Vance didn't even bother to acknowledge him. The principal leaned back into his chair and buttoned up his blazer; straining the button as he leaned back into his desk. The woman walked over to the group and placed her hands protectively on her sons shoulders, and Malcolm swallowed a chuckle when he shrugged her away.

A myriad of scenarios whipped through his head like a storm - Vance had a black eye, bloody nose and was covered in dirt. The principal flatly asked why they were in his office and, without hesitation the boy launched into a rendition of the fight, blaming Vance for his reddened cheek and split lip. Malcolm rolled his eyes when the mother chimed in - her voice sharp and shrill; enough to make one's ears bleed - demanding that Vance be suspended and threatened to take the incident to a media outlet if he wasn't. The chime of his omni-tool drew Malcolm's attention from the meeting as he opened the offending program - a message from Hackett with several attachments ready to download.

Reflagging the message as unread; he waved the program closed and stuck his right index finger into his right ear, wiggling it rapidly as he waited for her to finish ranting; she was red in the face and sucking in her breaths carefully. He turned his attention to Vance and gently squeezed his shoulder while asking for his input on the situation. Vance kept his gaze trained forward, staring behind the principal. His grip on Victoria's hand tightened as he spoke: "He hurt Victoria." He watched Victoria shy away from the comment as though it had burned her. Vance stared at the boy, anger smeared across his face as he emphasised each word _"You. Hurt. Her!"_

Vance caught Victoria's face in his grasp and wrenched it upwards towards Malcolm. She winced from the movement. An angry red graze full of dirt marred her right cheek. Vance released her and grabbed her right forearm and tugged her sleeve up to show another graze stretching from the heel of her palm, up her wrist and along a part of her forearm and elbow.  
Malcolm knelt beside Victoria and she refused to look at him. Sadness tore through him as a well of mixed and unnamed emotions ravaged his heart; was she ashamed? Another purpling bruise caught his attention, and he knew without checking what it looked like. But he needed to. He had to see it with his own eyes. Carefully, affording her as much modesty as he could, he pushed her skirt up her leg. The graze ran up her thigh, blood freckled the graze from where the skin was torn.

The room fell silent. Malcolm leaned his hand against his knee and clamped his free hand over his mouth, pinching his cheekbones beneath his thumb and forefinger; eyes forward but unseeing. The woman opened and closed her mouth repeatedly and somewhere in the far reaches of Malcolm's mind he imagined her face on the body of a trout. The principal rested his elbows on his desk and pressed the hell of his palms into his eyes.

Malcolm held the Principals gaze. Anger burned within his stomach, guilt ate at his conscience yet he felt calm; "So you wish to know if I will press charges for my daughters assault?"

The woman balked at the comment and the group sat in an awkward silent while the principal buzzed for his PA to join them in the room. No one moved or uttered a word as they waited. The tension in the room thick enough to cut with a knife. The whoosh of the door eased the tension slightly as the PA strode confidently into the room. A silent order in the form of a nod prompted the PA to usher the children out of the room. Malcolm's legs were as heavy as cement by the time he heard the whoosh of the door closing and the low hiss and whine of the lock sealing them in the room. He regained himself long enough to move to the seat Vance had occupied and sat down ready and eager to hear their explanations.

oOo

'Kids will be kids.'

That was the best excuse they offered. As soon as they were alone, the woman had burst into tears. Loud, obnoxious, heavy, messy sobs. Malcolm was gob smacked; unsure if she was crying or if it was one very impressive act to regain control of the situation. Through her blubbering and lip quivering she claimed that her son - Chris Toombs - was not a bad kid. He wouldn't hurt a fly let alone a young girl. She had raised him to be better than that. Malcolm bit the inside of his cheek to stifle a scoff; the state of his daughter proved otherwise. They had been so ready to suspend Vance for punching Toombs that they were surprised when Malcolm expected them to punish the other boy.

Vance and Victoria sat in the back of the skycar as Malcolm drove home. Vance rested his chin in his hand as he stared out the window. His other hand splayed across the middle seat. Victoria read on her datapad, scrolling to change the page. Her fingers ghosting over Vance's fingertips. Through the rear view mirror he could see that Vance's left eye was already swelling and bruising. Malcolm spent the ride home rehearsing his speech: _I understand that you were defending your sister, but we don't punch people because they make us angry. Violence should never be our first response!_

 _But it had been our first response. Instead of trying to broker understanding, we destroyed Turian vessels and sparked the First Contact War._

Malcolm had barely touched the skycar down when Vance released the hatch and jumped free of the car. All but running inside, flinging the door open and hurling himself into the house. Victoria clutched her bag to her chest and scooted across the back seat, shoving her small hand into Malcolm's when she was free of the vehicle. They walked hand in hand towards the open door when a second skycar landed in their carport, hovering for barely a second before dropping onto the ground. Malcolm winced at the crunch and groan of the skycar.

"Where is he?" Hannah barreled out of the car and marched inside, not even waiting for an answer.

Victoria looked up at Malcolm and let her hand drop from his grip and trudged inside. Malcolm closed the door behind him and toed off his shoes before heading to Vance's room, standing by his door. A small suitcase sat on his bed. Hannah removed clothes from their hanger, folded them and placed them into the suitcase. She was careful and meticulous as she packed his things. Vance stood by the mirror in his room and gingerly poked his eye before placing a bag of frozen peas over his swollen eye. He walked past Malcolm and grabbed another small suitcase from the hallway closet and carried it into Victoria's room while she came out to hand him a piece of paper and a datapad before returning to her room to pack.

The Alliance logo was embossed into the paper. At the top of the page, front and centre, in giant letters: **Arcturus Station Department of Colonial Affairs.**

21 May 2163

CLASSIFIED

RE: ADVANCED TRAINING ACADEMY FOR JUVENILES

LT Shepard,

Enrolment into Alliance ATAJ intakes 2163-07-SVM/ARCSDIV and 2163-07-SVF/ARCSDIV have been approved. Posting onto SSV Einstein acknowledged and pre-vacation documents prepared for departure dated June 15, 2163.

SSV Einstein docks at Arcturus station. You are to report to hanger F-37 at 0600 to Admiral Kastanie Drescher on June 16. A 3 bedroom property in the Aurora District will be ready for your arrival - Corporal Declan Blake will coordinate your orientation of the station.

If you need further help, please notify Corporal Declan Blake within the Arcturus Station Department of Colonial Affairs.

Regards,

Meredith Reizer  
Staff Officer  
Department Colonial Affairs, Arcturus Station.

Malcolm felt his heart slide up into his throat as he turned on the datapad. Info streams of cleaning services contacts, pre-vacation checklists, non-classified deployment details and various other topics lit up on the screen. He quickly flicked the datapad off again and dropped himself against the wall. Hannah was a stubborn woman. When she decided on something, there was no changing her mind; he knew. He knew the move was coming, but he wasn't prepared for it to be so soon. Anger bubbled in his stomach and ice seeped into his veins. He barely heard himself tell Vance to help his sister pack as he gently palmed him out of the room, closing the door behind him.

He didn't know what he wanted to say to Hannah as a wave of fatigue crashed into him. She hadn't mentioned the posting was for next month. She hadn't mentioned to him that she was enrolling the kids into the Alliance Academy. She never mentioned that this posting took them to a space station - he assumed it would only take her away for deployment. _So what has she told me about this posting?_ Malcolm furled and unfurled his fists in time with each deep breath to placate himself.

With a clearer mind, he reminded himself that Arcturus station was where Steven was being posted to manage the colonisation efforts. This could be a blessing in disguise. He looked up at Hannah who had finished packing Vance's closet and moved onto his drawers. There was no plan yet but Malcolm knew that how he acted in this moment, would make the future easier. Instead of starting a fight, he walked over to Hannah and gently took her hand in his, letting a small smile tug at his lips. Her hard grimace softened at the contact. Returning a pair of socks to the drawer, Hannah allowed herself to turn and face Malcolm. She knew that she had started the move without speaking with him first, but he didn't seem to understand anymore what this meant for her and for her career. When she saw him in the driveway earlier, she had deliberately been short with him and avoided eye contact to prevent the inevitable war of words that would follow when he learned about the move.

But it never came. Hannah heard the door close behind her and she had attempted to keep busy with packing. She had hoped if she seemed busy, he would leave her alone. Malcolm had taken several deep breaths that were far too loud for her liking - he was angry - but here he was, smiling at her; asking her to let him handle the kids' school withdrawal papers and that he would bring the children up to the station once everything was arranged. Vance, eavesdropping from outside, burst into the room begging to go to Arcturus station early while Victoria pleaded to stay behind with Malcolm.

"If your mother is ok with it Vance you can go," Malcolm turned to Hannah, checking her opinion; a brief nod gave him the answer; "Tori, you can stay with me."

oOo

Arcturus Station had nothing on Earth, but it was still damn impressive. The air smelled like spring - crisp and fresh; the trees swayed along to the wind, and the view of the station docks from the central hub was breath-taking. While he missed Earth terribly, he had also missed the sight of deep space. It had been six months since he and Victoria arrived on the station and something was very different already. The SSV Einstein had already been deployed by the time he arrived. Hannah assured him that it was a short voyage and she would return within the month - three months ago. Vance had found his true calling within the Academy and was moving swiftly through the training modules. The instructors were excited to explore his potential; gushing over his clear affinity for combat and infiltration tactics. Unlike Vance, Victoria elected to attend a standard school. While Vance spent all of his time in combat simulators and practical application classes, Victoria stayed within the library and classrooms.

Malcolm watched the SSV Hastings creep towards the station to dock. The frigate shuddered as the gangway attached to the starboard airlock. Pushing off the railing, he strode towards the Aurora District enjoying the twilight cycle. Stuffing his hands into his pockets he stopped to admire the station ceiling turn translucent, allowing the stars to shine and twinkle brightly. Soft chiming alerted everyone that the station's VI was about to advise that the night cycle was beginning. As if on cue, Malcolm spotted Steven and Victoria walking down a side passage that linked to the Aurora District bridge. By some miracle they had secure the condo next to Steven which had eased Malcolm's mind when the Academy kept the students back later. More often than not, he relied on Steven to escort his children home.

Victoria jogged over to Malcolm and threw herself at him. He caught her with ease, lifting her up and swinging her around. It had become their custom since moving to the station. Setting Victoria down again, he shook Steven's hand in thanks. Noting that Vance was not with them. The two men walked back towards the condo in a comfortable silence, listening to Victoria talk about her day of classes. She had been taken with Earth's history, finding it difficult to accept that Space travel used to be impossible - the biggest challenge being to travel across the sea at one point. Steven then admitted that his grandfather used to tell him stories about a time before omni-tools, when they used to have to use a 'mobile phone'.

By the time the trio reached the condo, Victoria and Steven were in their own world. Victoria convinced that Steven was making everything up and Steven finding her reactions to 'old world technology' hilarious. Steven promised her that it was all real, going into his condo to grab proof. Victoria flung her bag off to the side and skipped into her bedroom ignoring Vance who was already inside playing the First Contact video game, claiming it was homework. Malcolm toed off his shoes and scooped Victoria's bag off of the floor, slinging it over his shoulder. Vance was in a loadout screen, flicking through the different assault rifles, settling on the Gorgon Assault Rifle before moving onto the pistols.

"The Gorgon isn't a standard issue Assault Rifle Vance, choose one you are likely to use." Steven stated in his no nonsense tone as he closed the door behind him and called for Victoria. She strolled back down the hallway in casual clothing, eyes glued to her datapad. He handed her a few ancient photo albums containing the proof he had mentioned after she'd reclaimed her backpack and she excitedly ran back to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"You know you'll never get those back, right?" Malcolm pointed out as they headed into the kitchen. Steven shrugged out of his alliance blazer draping it over the back of the chair while Malcolm grabbed two beers from the fridge, handing one to Steven. They both smacked the neck of the bottle against the counter at just the right angle to hit the lid off and not break the bottle. Clinking the bottles against each other in a toast then downing the liquid, Malcolm hissed in appreciation.

The rat-tat-tat of an assault rifle signaled that Vance's game had started. The two listened to Vance yelling orders to his team mates via the in game communicator - directing the sniper's shots, commanding the infiltrators and soldiers into place to protect their site. Malcolm had to admit that Vance sounded confident in himself. The console in the kitchen and his omni-tool lit up and chimed rapidly; a hail from Hannah. Malcolm abandoned his beer on the counter to accept the hail.

"Malcolm!" A tiny hologram of Hannah appeared above the omni-tool projector.

"Hey Hannah," Malcolm held his arm out straight so the hologram was facing both himself and Steven; "Hackett is here."

Hannah snapped off a perfect salute holding the pose until Steven waved her free with the comment 'I'm not in uniform'. She relaxed; "Sorry I've not made contact sooner, it's been so busy here and I don't have a lot of time."

Malcolm brought his arm back in so he could see her, walking deeper into the kitchen; "Do you have time to say hi to the kids? I can grab them..."

"No Mal, I don't." Hannah cut him off and looked over at someone beyond the hologram; "I just called to say that our deployment has been extended for at least another four months, I may won't be home for the kids' birthday."

"Four months?!" Malcolm almost choked on his tongue; "That means you've been gone all year! You can't..."

"Sorry, I have to go." Hannah nodded curtly at him, ending the transmission.

Malcolm pinched the bridge of his nose pressing into his tear ducts to release the pressure building behind his eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Steven took another swig of his beer, feigning disinterest but still concerned for his friend.

Malcolm walked back over to the counter and drank the rest of his beer in a single breath. He dropped the bottle in the bin and pulled another two bottles from the fridge. He wanted to talk about it but what could he say? Steven took the bottle of beer on offer and placed it beside his current drink, watching Malcolm carefully as he cracked his beer open. Steven knew Malcolm well enough know that Malcolm needed time to organize his thoughts.

"I'm overreacting." Malcolm played with the label on his beer.

"What makes you say that?" Steven kept his voice calm and even. He took another drink of beer and smacked his lips.

"Deployment is part of the job. Mission parameters change - she can't help that." Steven watched as Malcolm paced the length of the kitchen, leaving his beer aside; "Tori and I arrived six months ago. Six months! she had already been on deployment for two months and now she is saying she will be gone for another four - minimum! Where was Vance for those two months?"

"At the Academy." Steven stated carefully.

"At the Academy!" Malcolm reiterated his statement. He dragged a hand through his hair pausing for the briefest of moments; "She left him alone for two months. It's a wonder he comes home at all anymore."

"Why wouldn't he come home?" Steven poked his head out of the kitchen to scan the hallway for prying ears. Satisfied that they were alone he grabbed two glasses to fill with water; stepping around Malcolm's furious pacing.

"The Alliance is more of a family to him than anything he has with us." Malcolm accepted the glass from Steven, holding onto the glass as though it was a lifeline; "Ever since we arrived, he has spent more and more time at the academy. Sometimes I feel like he only comes home for Tori."

"Have you spoken to Hannah about your concerns?"

"Multiple times before moving here, though they fell on deaf ears," Malcolm put his glass on the counter and leaned against it. His shoulders dropped, and he felt exhausted; "Victoria already thinks Hannah hates her; I can't do this anymore."

Steven sighed heavily and waved his omni-tool to life. Pulling up several programs, he flicked through each one until he found what he was looking for and scanned it across to Malcolm. Without waiting for it to hit Malcolm's omni-tool, Steven opened the documents in projection mode. A small planet hovered above Steven's omni-tool, information points blinked within the projected planet's core.

"The favor you asked for before we left Earth..." Steve tapped one of the blinking points, magnifying the spot to show a small colony - a small village with plenty of farmland but nothing amazing; "This is Mindoir. A small farming colony on the outskirts of the Attican Traverse. Nothing fancy as you can see, but it will offer a good life."

"It's beautiful..." Malcolm transferred the image to his omni-tool, admiring the small village. The homes were humble though he could see there was space between the homes - privacy and a yard. There were no giant sprawls, no heavy Alliance presence, plenty of food and water, though he noted the fortifications needed work; "It's perfect!"

"It will be," Steven agreed; "If I help you get there, I will need something in return - something that will be difficult for you to accept."

Malcolm closed off his omni-tool and braced himself for the request. Would Steven want him to turn over his omni-tool? Renounce his military rights or privileges and be a true civilian? Return all his weaponry?

"I need you to leave Vance in my care."

Steven gripped his beer and waited for Malcolm to process the request. Malcolm released a breath he didn't even realise he had been holding. His plan was to give his children a real life; a life away from the Alliance. It didn't work if he couldn't take both of his children.

"Hannah has already given her approval. Vance is incredible," Steven justified himself by sending Vance's data over to Malcolm; "his readouts during combat exercises are far beyond his peers. His aptitude for reconnaissance and theoretical infiltration are - well, see for yourself."

He wasn't lying; Vance's psychological profile showed that he was very mature for his age; his abilities sat far above the rest of his classmates. Results from exams, assessments and live trials all showed that Vance understood combat tactics that should be far beyond him. Then Malcolm caught Steven's comment; "Hannah has already given her OK?"

"ATAJ wanted custody since he will be boarding at the school. Hannah wanted me to be in charge of him. Vance has a lot of potential and I'd hate to see it go to waste over short sightedness and poor decisions from the wrong chain of command."

It made sense. Vance belonged in this world, he always had. Having Steven in charge of him while they were on Arcturus station meant that he and Hannah weren't cut out of his life. Hannah could stay on deployment without concern and Malcolm could raise Victoria planetside. But leaving Vance behind meant the chance of seeing him again were slim. Though, Malcolm rationalised, it's not forever. I will see him again after his training.

Steven didn't bother to wait for a response. He peeled himself off the barstool groaning as several joints clicked and popped from the shift. Ignoring the empty beer bottle on the counter he wandered into Victoria's room to collect his photo albums, leaving Malcolm alone in the kitchen. He could hear the rat-tat-tat of Vance's game still going strong in the living room. Heading in to investigate he found Vance concentrating on his game. One of his teammates had fallen during the battle leaving him with two soldiers to help hold their position. According to the mission log on his HUD, Vance and his team had lost 8% of the civilians they had to protect - an amazing effort, given the circumstances. They were pinned down in the colony by a Turian sniper and their rations were running low.

Malcolm moved to sit on the couch behind Vance. He remembered the Shanxi occupation and liberation too well. General Williams' decision to surrender the colony still hurt. _If he had just held out for a little longer..._

Vance's character - the Commander of the Shanxi garrison - zig zagged through the streets, running as fast as he could; leaping over rubble and debris, making his way towards the mission marker. One of his squad mates was running ahead on his right flank, gunning down a group of enemies hiding behind broken buildings. He clubbed an enemy in the face with the butt of his gun as he pushed on towards the goal. Vance sprinted down a corridor and jumped to the base of a stairwell, ignoring the Turians shooting at him from off screen. He opened the door with a quicktime event triggering a cutscene. Malcolm took the controller to pause the game while Vance removed gaming gloves, boots and headpiece.

"Vance, come chat with me." Malcolm patted the empty couch seat.


	2. Chapter 2 - What could go wrong?

Disclaimer: I Don't own Bioware nor the characters. I just like making stories :)

Firm hands clamped over his mouth pulled him from a dreamless sleep. Striking emerald eyes sparkled against the down light's mellow glow. Malcolm caressed Hannah's cheek and kissed her palm. The ship was still in its night cycle which meant only a handful of crew members were still awake. Hannah moved her hand down to Malcolm's, following the muscular curve of arm. Malcolm's mouth dried at the sight of Hannah; with their fingers entwined she coaxed him into getting out of his bunk. Lust and mischief danced in her eyes, fanning the flames of desire within Malcolm.

Their joint deployment was almost over. The supply run to Eden Prime had gone perfectly. The 103rd had inspected, tested and calibrated the colony defence systems while the Navy offloaded supplies for the colonists. Throughout the trip Malcolm had made a point of staying in the cargo bay, away from anywhere Hannah would be. He considered himself professional enough to work alongside his wife, but he didn't care to deal with the rumours. Different chains of command meant fraternisation wasn't much of a problem. Despite this he knew they were lucky to be on the same mission, let alone  
on the same vessel.

Hannah freed her hand to grasp the metal bars of the service ladder. Leaning over just enough to pull her jumpsuit taut against her backside. Malcolm's tongue darted across his lips when Hannah slid her hand along the hard metal. He cleared his throat, a quiet 'ahem', and shoved his hands into his pockets when she smirked at him over her shoulder, disappearing down the service hole. He didn't bother to wait for her signal of all-clear as he followed her into the service shafts. The crawl space led straight to the cargo bay; the opening hidden behind several stacked crates. Pulling himself around a corner, he glimpsed Hannah dragging herself out of the crawl space, keeping low in front of him, holding her hand up prompting Malcolm to be still and quiet. He heard the whoosh of the cargo bay doors sealing when Hannah disappeared from view. The doors blue scanner flashed to red.

Malcolm barely had enough time to stand up when Hannah's mouth found his. She moaned, and he growled into the kiss as his hands ran down her sides to rest on the seat of her backside; her arms snaked around his neck as their tongues warred against each other. Clutching her butt he lifted her into his embrace. Her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling them closer together. Malcolm walked them over to a crate depositing her atop it so he could unclasp her shirt buttons. Hannah caught his hair within her fingers and pulled just hard enough for Malcolm to tip his head back, breaking their kiss. She nipped and suckled her way along his jawline while he made short work of her shirt, ripping it down her arms to expose her naked form. He brought his hands up to cup breasts, capturing her nipples in his fingers, tweaking them between thumb and forefinger as he massaged her breasts in the palm of his hand. She sighed into his jawline and arched into his touch. Malcolm drew back enough to recapture her lips with his, smiling into the kiss when he felt her nipples harden beneath his fingers.

Hannah ran her hands down his back tugging at the hem of his shirt before running her hands back up his stomach towards his shirt buttons. He bit her bottom lip and grasped her hands placing them behind her back before returning to her nipples. She had been tormenting him all day on the ship knowing he'd be unable to react while on duty. He was straining against his BDU's and desperately wanted to be inside her but he needed to return the favour. He needed her to taste her own medicine before he gave them both what they wanted. Moaning in frustration, Hannah wiggled beneath his touch, shifting her hands so she was sitting on them. His tongue traced from her lips down her neck to her hardened nipple, taking it into his mouth while his hands caressed her back, tracing light patterns on the skin between her shoulder blades. She felt gooseflesh rise beneath his feather light caress. Hungry fingers unbuttoned her trousers with ease as he pushed his fingers past her panties just enough to tease and ignite a fire within her. Keeping a slow and even tempo Malcolm worked his finger around her coaxing small whimpers of pleasure out of Hannah as he held her hips still. He pushed her legs further apart for better exposure and she bucked against his touch. Malcolm continued the slow, torturous pace; leaning into Hannah as he claimed her lips for another kiss.

Slick wetness coated his fingers as Malcolm kept circling her nub slowly - close enough for her to feel the desire building but far enough to drive her wild. He was being mean but figured she'd almost learned her lesson about teasing him. Hannah moaned and bucked her hips against him, a silent plea for him to touch her clit. Instead Malcolm pushed his hand further down her panties and inserted a finger into her, stroking to enhance her frustration. Malcolm ran his hand from her hips up her back and entwined his fingers in her hair. Tugging gently yet firmly on her hair, Hannah pulled back from the kiss and tilted her head back to expose her neck. Her breathing hitched as she moaned and clung to his name like a manta while Malcolm increased the pace of his strokes, making sure his palm rubbed against her clit when his fingers stroked within her - 'please please please; Mal— oh please! I need-'

"This is what you did to me, all day," He growled into her ear and removed his fingers so suddenly that Hannah whimpered. Malcolm almost felt guilty for smiling at her devastated expression.

He yanked her off the crates, his guilt melted away when she squealed in delight, and set her down before him. Spinning her around in place, Malcolm bent her over the crate she had been sitting on. Hannah wiggled her hips excitedly, half shimmying out of her trousers when the cargo bay door locks chimed signalling that the unlocking sequence had primed.

Hannah shoved Malcolm back and leapt off the cargo boxes. She grabbed her bra and shirt on her way to the service entrance leaving Malcolm to fend for collected his shirt from the ground, shaking out the creases when the door whooshed open to reveal Captain Nitesh Singh and Corporal Tadius Ahern. Everyone snapped off a perfect salute. Malcolm draped his shirt over the crate and walked towards the makeshift sparring ring. Thanks to the intrusion he was even more pent up.

"I take it you gentlemen can't sleep either," He sat on the floor to stretch out his legs, since he would not get Hannah tonight he needed another way to blow off steam; "fancy a few rounds?"

Captain Singh removed his dress blues, placing them in a locker off to the side then busied himself with the weapons rack. Corporal Ahern, without the usual Alliance care, tossed his shirt off to the side and strode into the arena barely stretching out as he reminded Malcolm that 'I still owe you for Eden Prime.' Malcolm felt his lips twitch against a smirk. Back on Eden Prime Ahern had been running his mouth complaining that his girlfriend had been passed over for the SSV Matterhorn's navigator, that the current navigator got the posting for sleeping with the ship's former XO. The man had no tact, making the claim just as Malcolm and Hannah walked into the mess. Hannah walked over to the food station with her head held high. Malcolm asked Tadius to spar with him. His voice calm and even; only his eyes betrayed  
his rage.

It had taken Malcolm less than a minute to knock Tadius on his ass. Everyone had come out to watch the sparring match - the ships company stood on crates, chairs and tables; people sat in the front rows; some people even sat on people's shoulders to get a view of Corporal Ahern sparring with former XO Malcolm Sheppard. This time was different. There was no crowd, and it wasn't personal. Malcolm stood on his side of the ring, redressing his knuckles. Tadius bounced on the spot shaking tension from his arms and shoulders, he squatted a few times as he claimed 'last time you got lucky! i  
won't go so easy on you this time, Shepard.'

Tadius raised his fists up, his left level with his eye and his right in line with his collarbone. Bouncing from foot to foot he took a few quick jabs then squared his footing. Malcolm rolled his shoulder blades back as he strolled into the ring, his arms remained at his side. Tadius lunged forward striking out with his right arm. Malcolm raised his arms in defence, blocking the punch as he pushed Tadius' arm to the side and palmed him firmly in the chest. Tadius staggered backwards then regained his posture, he faked a punch for Malcolm to dodge and brought his knee up sharply towards Malcolm's core. Malcolm clasped his arms above his head and brought his elbows down hard, connecting with Tadius' thigh then palming him in the chest again. Tadius staggered back again and roared in frustration. Malcolm focused on the sparring match blocking, dodging, and weaving waiting for an opening.

Captain Singh hoisted himself onto a bench to watch the match. Tadius was panting, covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Malcolm felt his breathing hitch; he was getting tired. When Tadius threw himself at  
Malcolm again, he decided the match was over. Malcolm raised his fists to his eye level; deflecting the right hook and then the left - pushing the arms open and throwing him off guard. Malcolm grabbed Tadius' shoulder and swung his leg around to buckle his knee, half guiding Tadius to the floor when he fell. Victory. Malcolm wandered over to Captain Singh and tapped him on the shoulder to trade places. Hoisting himself up onto the stack of crates, he messed with his omni-tool while Nitesh and Tadius circled around each other. Several missed vid calls from the twins flashed bright against the dim lighting. Switching his omni-tool to private audio he played the message, cracking a smile when the video came to life right under Victoria's nose. Vance yelled 'no 'tori!' off camera and the shot widened to reveal both of his children sitting on the floor. Vance held a picture book in front of him and Victoria, speaking nonsense as he pointed to the colourful pages. Victoria sat beside him trying to divide her attention between the vid call and the story. A toothy smile, enthusiastic wave and 'hello mummy! hello daddy!' was the only acknowledgment from the kids before they returned their full attention to the story. The vid call flicked over to Steven's face as he gave a brief message: 'you should be about 6 hours away. Kids want to wait up though I give them another hour at most. Babysitter will be back soon. Come by my place before turning in.'

The second vid was of Vance saying good night, The third was from Victoria, and the fourth was from Steven saying he would meet them in the auditorium. Several more alerts pinged. Malcolm opened the  
attachment on his omni-tool as Nitesh and Tadius joined him on the sidelines, their omni-tools alive with the same attachment. The men exchanged glances, Standing Orders demanded everyone from the Fourth Fleet and 103rd division to report to the auditorium at 0300. Matterhorn's pilot announced that they were two hours out from Arcturus Station.

"You heard the woman," Nitesh grabbed his jacket from the locker, becoming the Captain again; "Two hours left, make yourselves busy."

oOo

It was bedlam at the docks. They docked at 0315. Decontamination malfunctioned sending the ship into quarantine for twenty-six minutes while engineers completed the process, forcing everyone to walk through the makeshift scrubbing booth one by one - ten minutes per person with roughly eighty staff By the time they all reached the auditorium the debrief was well underway, everyone went silent and stared as they entered the room.

A giant projection of a star stream sat high above the group. it looked like any other cluster except for one significant difference: The relay was inactive. The scientist at the podium, Malcolm guessed, was almost peeing himself with excitement. An inactive relay meant uncharted territory; uncharted territory meant uninhabited worlds. The Admirals ordered the Fourth Fleet to be ready for deployment within the day.

Equal parts excitement and despair rippled through Malcolm. Nothing could compare with being the first human on a new planet; to explore an uncharted world while the scientists scurried about like bugs on crack, taking samples of everything from dirt to air. To watch as the galaxy map was expanded, marvelling at how small humanity was against the vastness of space. Malcolm could see the excitement on Hannah's face as she chatted to the navigational team.

But he had missed his son's first words, his daughter's first steps. Their first birthday and their first day of preschool. He loved being amongst the stars discovering all the wonders the galaxy was hiding from them but, he wanted to be there when his children made discoveries of their own. The memory of his first time on the Armstrong Outpost had been replaced by the birth of his children; the memory of sailing through the stars a distant second to his kids learning to ride a tricycle. Sinking into sulphur pits lost to the memory of the kids painting the walls with chocolate mousse and Hannah's protein powder. Malcolm smiled wistfully losing himself in his memories of the twins. When the auditorium was dismissed Captain Singh rallied his people back to the ship. Hannah's lips kissed the air near Malcolm's cheek, a small goodbye, before she ran off to join the crew.

Malcolm rounded the corner of his street unable to remember how he had gotten there. His feet and eyelids were heavy. His vision flickering with every step he took. His body ached in places he didn't even  
know could be sore. The station's dawn cycle creeped up the artificial horizon lighting the ceiling with brilliant blues, golds and light pinks; Malcolm winced. After weeks aboard a ship the sunlight was blinding, but it gave him a sense of calmness. The station was silent at this hour: the skycabs are grounded, the station VI was on standby, and the docking station was too far away for the noise to be a problem. He pulled the front door keycard from his pocket, swatting the panel and falling on the door for support as he stumbled inside. The babysitter hurried over to his side, taking his rucksack and heading  
towards the laundry, one whiff of the bag etched a deep scowl into her features.

He dragged himself upstairs and fell onto his bed, still dressed in his BDU's. A broken whine clawed out from his throat as darkness devoured him.

Tiny voices pulled him from his dreamless sleep. Unwilling to wake up, Malcolm lay still, content with swimming around in limbo listening to the small voices sing and chatter around him.

'He's hairy!'

'He fell asleep with shoes on! Silly billy.'

'Shh! he'll wake up.'

'I'm hungry.'

The weight of a tiny person bouncing on him forced another groan from Malcolm. He snorted and craned his neck around, picking himself up off the bed. Victoria giggled as she fell off his back onto the bed. Ignoring the kids as they raced down the hallway, Malcolm tore his boots from his feet and threw them at the bathtub. He turned the hot tap as far as it would go watching as the steam rolled around the room. Malcolm hissed as he shoved his hand through the molten stream to reach the cold water. He stripped off and tossed his BDU's into the bathtub with his boots then stepped into the shower, enjoying the burning sensation from the hot shower washing away the stress from his aching body.

Hot showers were a great way to start shore leave.

oOo

They were ready for deployment by the time the crew had returned from the Auditorium. The dock workers had outdone themselves - most of the Fourth Fleet had already left for the relay when the Matterhorn crew arrived.

Hannah stood at her terminal in front of the ship's GUI interface plotting a clean route for the pilot to maintain FTL through three active relays into a brand new system. Her map was dark for the sector though the ship's sensor arrays would soon change that.

Several servicemen flittered around her shouting nav points, ship specs and report updates from engineering over one another. She repeated the important information aloud for confirmation as she focused on building their flight path. The flight lieutenant announced over the ship wide broadcast system that they were three hours out from the  
Prime relay as Hannah's earpiece buzzed to life whining and popping with static.

' _...There we go_!' Hannah's heart skipped a beat as she listened to the familiar beeps, pings and chimes of the cockpit; _'Private channel.'_

"Flight path almost ready for you, Flight Lieutenant." Hannah continued to punch in Nav points and tighten their route as she whispered; "servicemen info dumping course corrections all at once, hard to focus right now. I'll update you once we hit FTL travel from the Prime relay."

' _Typical FNG's,_ ' laugher flooded her earpiece; ' _Oh hey Captain -_ '

Hannah felt her mouth break into a grin as the private line fell silent. She uploaded the flight path off her then pivoted around to give the servicemen her full attention. Holding her hands up flat and shushing the group into silence she pointed at the serviceman on her right, ordering her to check the flight path uploaded to all navigation screens. She turned to the other two servicemen waving her hand as she passed them. Falling in line they followed her to the mess hall. XO Hartley sat in the furthermost corner surrounded by small piles of datapads. He scanned the contents of the datapad in front of him, comparing it to other datapads. She pulled out the two chairs opposite the XO, stepping back as the two servicemen took her place at the table. Hartley's gaze shifted between the three of them, holding Hannah's attention hostage until she introduced the servicemen as the assistant navigators. She hadn't finished the introductions when Hartley pushed two stacks of datapads towards the servicemen, waving Hannah away as the group discussed scenarios and counter-measures.

' _Hartley will keep them occupied for the rest of the trip_ ,' a deep gravelly voice rumbled through her earpiece, sending a shiver down her spine; ' _Wanna copilot my ship?_ '

"Only if you promise to fire your canon." Hannah whispered to herself. A sharp inhale and sultry purr from the earpiece tugged at something within her belly; "I'll be there in five."

The ship was buzzing with activity as Hannah stepped out the elevator. The door to the communications room sat wide open. Captain Singh had his back to the bridge as he stood before the holograms of several captains; a small plaque beneath their hologram console showed which ship they represented. The Captain of the Denali shifted from foot to foot as she crossed her arms, the image quality was poor, but she seemed unimpressed with the conversation. The XO strode past tilting his head away from the door - a silent hint to move on - as he made his way down the catwalk to Singh.

Her omni-tool flashed 15:43 as she grabbed two ration packs from the mess hall. With her usual carelessness she tossed them into a free microwave. Keying in 5 - 3 - 0 - start, rummaging around for two sachets of coffee while the microwave droned along to the countdown. She filled the two travel mugs with boiling water before adding in the sachets of coffee and powdered milk then stirred vigorously. The microwave beeped just as she screwed the caps onto the travel mugs. Balancing the ration pack trays in one hand and the travel mugs in the other she weaved through the groups of people, climbing the staircase two steps at a time and making the long trek down to the cockpit.

Flight Lieutenant Squire spun around in his chair so fast Hannah thought he'd fly out of it. She leaned against the door, dinner and drinks in hand. He gratefully accepted a tray and travel mug, swirling back around while Hannah climbed into the copilot seat. The relay floated lifeless before them. Squire hit a few buttons on his console. The HUD from his console disappeared before lighting up over the virtual window panels; orange tracking circles closed around nearby ships - SSV Denali, SSV Copenhagen and SSV Victoria drifted on the flanks while the SSV Vancouver and SSV Churchill lingered ahead. Hannah sipped her coffee letting the hot liquid roll around her tongue while Squire shovelled a forkful of green beans into his mouth moaning in appreciation as he chewed the food. Another orange circle appeared around the relay on the screen, information popped up beside the tracking ring: "inactive for at least a century, powered down and the relay has suffered damaged - repairs required" Hannah read aloud as Captain Singh joined them in the cockpit.

"Looks like we have our work cut out for us then, establish Fleet wide communications" Captain Singh rallied all crewmen to their posts, several hours later engineers and mechanics floated around the  
relay, marines and non essential servicemen scurried around the bays grabbing tools and finding pieces of scrap to send to the repair teams. The cruisers and frigates circled around the relay, flooding the area with as much light as the ships could allow; "Shepard, get ready to take a walk."

oOo

Hannah hung from the relay with one mag boot, letting her other leg float beneath her as she ran a diagnostic from her Omni-tool flicking her gaze between the relay control panel and her program, overriding corrupt data.

It had been centuries since the relay had been active, the data streamed along the screen in broken images forcing her omni-tool to compensate with its own algorithm. To her left two mechanics worked on rewiring an exposed panel while another two crewmen welded scrap metal to the relay above her. Hannah's omni-tool blinked as it uploaded the reconstructed data to the relay.

They had been at the relay for three cycles. Internal damage to the relay was more severe than expected, not that Hannah cared; being out amongst the stars comforted her and gave her a sense of peace unlike anything she'd ever known. Yanking on her tether to ensure she was attached, Hannah pushed off the relay using the momentum to float upwards towards the gyroscopic rings. She grabbed one ring to slow herself as she booted the screen on the new control panel and restarted the diagnostic program on her omni-tool; the screens flashed to life, mirroring one another. Hannah tapped a command into the program and let it run while she started into space.

"What a view," Hannah whispered in awe. She let go of the relay, letting herself drift among the stars; "So beautiful."

' _You're not wrong. Definitely a sight.'_

 __"I could stay out here forever," Hannah stretched her arms above her head reaching out to touch the stars.

' _You can - most fleets get deployed indefinitely_ ' Squire's deep, velvety voice was right beside her ear and it sent delicious shivers down her spine; ' _reeling you in, diagnostic's done. I'll prep the data while you get food!'_

Hannah's body jerked backwards as the tether pulled her back to the Matterhorn. She ended the programs on her Omni-tool and silenced her comm channel as she continued to admire the stars.

Squire leaned forward in his chair, gaze fixed on the data compiling on the screens before him. His head rested on his folded hands and his elbows rested against his thighs. Captain Singh sat on the copilot's chair stroking his chin, dragging his fingernails though his stubble. Hannah and XO Hartley leaned against the rear wall on either side of the door.

 _Compilation at 26% - Routing through SSV Victoria_

Whenever they had activated a relay, the ship VI could translate the data to English in an hour. Every other relay had given them valuable insight to an ancient race called Protheans. Every other relay had the  
same standard reboot sequence. Other relays were undamaged and could be activated within a day. So why, Hannah thought to herself, is this one different?

"Captain? I don't like this-" "I feel the same, Shepard, but we have our orders." Captain Singh cut her off mid sentence as he strolled out of the cockpit with XO Hartley hot on his heels.

 _Compilation at 32% - Linking SSV Copenhagen for compensation_

The Ship VI announced several hails from the fleet. Squire reopened the fleet wide broadcast channel in time to heard a chorus of voices blast through the speakers. Squire muted himself and diverted each  
communication channel to different departments. Hannah giggled at Squire mocking his current role "thank you for calling the SSV Matterhorn. Please hold while I direct your call." He grinned at her and she allowed herself to return the grin as butterflies flittered up a storm in her chest.

 _Compilation at 39% - SSV Churchill online. Compilation efficiency increased by 3%_

"Hello boys and girls - we come bearing gifts." Four crewmen from engineering and maintenance appeared behind the duo dropping a stack of cards onto Hannah's lap and holding a bar of chocolate up; "real chocolate and cards."

 _Compilation at 42% - SSV Vancouver VI successfully integrated with the relay._

Hannah was up five squares of chocolate and feeling lucky about her current hand. Squire sat to her left leaning into his chair casually, using the corner of his cards to pick at his fingernails. Few people on the Matterhorn willing to play poker with Squire; he had the best poker face on the ship. He placed his cards on the makeshift table one at a time: Ten of hearts, Jack of hearts, Queens of hearts, King of hearts, Ace of Hearts - not once breaking eye contact with Hannah. She shifted in her seat, focusing  
on her cards as the rest of the group collectively groaned their defeat.

 _Compilation at 67% - ERROR_

 __The station VI sounded seven short blasts and one long blast of the alarm in between the message 'malfunction in primary drive core, attempting to compensate.' The four crewmen threw themselves from their places at the poker table, running off to find the malfunction. Hannah and Squire looked at one another, grabbing pieces of chocolate off the poker board as they spun their chairs around to face the virtual screens.

The SSV Victoria flagging a malfunction in their life gravitational systems, SSV Copenhagen Captain ordered their VI to do a hard reboot, SSV Churchill's communications fell to static and SSV Vancouver's VI went offline. Squire opened every channel to SSV Vancouver, practically begging for someone to respond by the time Hannah managed to help the Matterhorn VI connect to the SSV Vancouver.

The Matterhorn VI flickered to life behind its bridge terminal desk. It held its hand up in a stop motion, activating several holograms including a 3D blueprint of the SSV Vancouver; but instead of being orange the image was red - multiple critical malfunctions. The ship had taken the brunt of a heavy cybernetic assault. Captain Singh's voice boomed over the comm. system for power to be routed from non essential systems to the SSV Vancouver clearly worried but still oozing confidence in a way only he could manage. The VI hologram disappeared from the bridge along with the automated navigational system, cabin lighting and several communication channels. Squire cursed loudly as the ship drifted, taking control of the ship in time to watch the flight assistance systems go offline. Hannah took her place in the copilot's  
chair to manually navigate the ship. Pride and terror coiled in her chest, she was one of few people still able to perform the task but she had never needed to use it before.

The duo hears a distinct wooming sound of the bridge door being powered down. Hannah walked over to the door to test it: nothing happened. Waving her Omni-tool to life she tried keying in the manual override code, again nothing happened. She hit the emergency release node next to the door – nothing.

"Perfect, locked in... What else could go wrong?" Hannah shuffled back to her post; crumpling into the seat as the climate control system went offline. 


	3. Not Alone

C **hapter 3–Not Alone...**

Hannah thanked God that she wore a singlet under her uniform. Climate control systems had been offline for hours. The cockpit was hot and stuffy and Hannah was swimming in her own sweat. Flight Lieutenant Squire had already pulled his boots off and ripped off his uniform shirt, eager to cool down as much as possible. The Matterhorn's VI had restored basic system functionality to the SSV Vancouver saving the hundreds of lives on board, but it wasn't able to restore their VI.

So here they were, stuck with minimal systems while the Matterhorn VI maintained two ships; waiting on the engineers on the SSV Vancouver to repair and reboot their VI.

Squire fanned his face with his hands, circulating the hot air. He looked over at Hannah who was in the middle of tying her hair up with one of her boot laces. Desperate times, he reasoned.

"You know," Squire towelled himself off with his shirt and tugged on his singlet to air himself out; "this reminds me of the Patashi mission."

Hannah chortled; "Patashi was much hotter than this. This is like a Thailand heat - it's horrible!."

"Thailand?"

"Yeah, on Earth?" Hannah pulled the boot lace from her hair and set about tying her hair in a bun; "real humid - you practically wear the heat."

"I've never been to Earth." Squire mumbled and rubbed the back of his neck to hide his embarrassment.

"Truly? You should go!" Hannah sat back into her chair for a moment before swivelling her chair around to face Squire. Her face was half hidden by shadow but he could make out her bright smile; "though it pales compared to the wonders out here."

"What's it like? Earth."

Squire hung on Hannah's every word. She described the lush rolling hills of the Tuscan countryside in Italy - pastures of green, yellow and brown; of the sun scorched Australian country - a place that can get so hot, entire communities still live underground; New York - home of the old United Nations head office, before it became the Systems Alliance; and London - Hannah's birth place. A hodgepodge of history and advancement. Giant cathedrals hundreds of years old, a once towering clock called Big Ben dwarfed by skyscrapers and a season where snow falls from the sky and covers the ground in a blanket of white for months on end.

"Wouldn't that hurt?" Squire furrowed his eyebrows at Hannah; "Snow is just ice, right?"

 _"_ No. Yes, but no." Hannah exhaled, she was terrible at describing things to people; "its ice, sure, but it's different. Think shaved ice, Squire. Lots of it."

Squire nodded slowly as he tried to imagine shaved ice falling from the sky. Hannah watched as his nose crinkled and his lip kinked. She snickered at his expression.

"Julian" He clarified himself when Hannah's face contorted with confusion; "my name."

"I know what your name is" The navigation system flickered to life, bathing Hannah's face in a hue of blue, orange and yellow. She peeled herself out of the chair and walked over to the manual override node to key in codes again.

"I've never heard you use it, I'm worried you don't even know how to say it."

"Juli-" Large hands landed on the wall beside her head, closing her in. She straightened herself a little as she pivoted on the spot. He had her pinned against the door. His toffee eyes held her captive in his gaze; her breathing hitched in her chest and her tongue darted out across her lips before she could stop herself; "-an"

They had been dancing around each other for months. What had started out as harmless battlefield flirting had become something more to him. He had tried hard, so hard, to deny his feelings for Hannah. She had a family waiting for her, but he could only take so much. He could still remember the night several months ago when he bumped into Hannah in the service shafts. She pinned him against a wall, kissing him with such passion and ferocity that he wanted to take her then and there. Instead she had broken off the kiss, told him to trust her and open their private channel; that she had a surprise for him. Listening to her get tormented by Malcolm had surprised him but seeing her in the cockpit soon after, locking the door behind her and making love against it had been the real surprise. He knew - by her own admission - that despite all the rumours surrounding her and Malcolm, they'd not been intimate in a long time - but he and Hannah had slept together many times.

Could he hope she felt the same as him? God, he hoped she did.

"Once chance. You know what I want, Hannah; but I won't play second fiddle. If you say yes then we do this right but if you say no, then I walk away," Squire held himself steady, careful that he didn't touch her, careful that his voice didn't rise beyond a whisper; "no hard feelings, strictly plut-"

Hannah lunged at him, crashing her lips into his. Squire barely had enough time to catch her and pull her flush against him without falling over. He slid his hands under her shirt savouring the softness of her naked skin against his fingertips. She moaned into their kiss, tilting her head back to give him better access to her mouth which he greedily accepted, his tongue massaged hers as he made short work of her pants. She broke away from the kiss first to help him out of his singlet. Squire could barely mask the smirk forming on his face in response to Hannah's soft scowl. She was too short to remove it. Putting her out of her misery Squire pulled the singlet over his head and tossed it aside then kissed the down-turned corners of her lips as he removed the final pieces of her clothing.

Squire took a moment to appreciate her figure: slim but not too skinny, toned arms and shapely legs, unblemished sun-kissed skin hidden under the darkness of the dimly lit cockpit, breasts that fit perfectly in his hands and a wonderfully round ass. Taking a deep breath, Squire committed the image to memory. She was...

"Stunning" His voice was husky and full of desire.

Hannah smiled shyly, her lips puckered and swollen from the kiss. Squire imagined Hannah astride him and his pants became far too tight. Hannah kept him pinned under her gaze as she drops to her knees before him, taking her time to undo the buttons and zip. Squire groaned at the sight of her, she was making him ache with desire as he sprang free of his underwear. Hannah kissed a dewy bead from the tip of Squire's cock and he inhaled sharply. She didn't give him the chance to prepare for her assault. She grabbed the base of his shaft firmly and licked her lips as she pumped him. Sheathing her teeth behind her lips she drew him into her, her tongue winding around him mercilessly torturing him as she bobbed tip to shaft meeting her hand in the middle. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Squire closed his eyes and surrendered to her rhythm. Unconsciously he thrusted in time with her. He carded his fingers through her hair to steady himself. Hannah moaned at the touch. The vibrations resonated with his cock and her movements. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down.

"Unh, Hannah..." He warned her, curling his fingers in her hair and doubling over slightly; "careful.."

He felt her smile around his shaft as she picked up the pace and increased the suction. Up. Down. Up. Down. He felt her draw him deeper into her mouth. He fisted his hands in her hair and bit back a moan. His head was nudging the back of her throat. He felt himself twitch and stiffen. He warned her he was close, he didn't want to be undone here, but she kept going. She pumped her hand in time with her head bobs, her tongue massaged the underside of his shaft and teased the sensitive spot beneath his head. His hip thrusts became more frantic. He was helpless. He needed release. He needed her. He had her. He had her mouth. He was in her mouth. In. Out. In Out. In. Out. Hannah shifted her hand from the base of his shaft and gently squeezed his balls. Squire cried out, pushed himself deep into her mouth and came.

Vaguely he felt Hannah stroking his thighs as she swallowed him. Shakily he released his death grip on her hair as she pulled away from his cock. He watched awe struck as she climbs up off the floor, licking her lips and looking every bit as impressed as he felt. She pushed him backwards until his knees collided with the small cot forcing him to sit down. Without hesitation Hannah climbed on top of him and kissed him hard. He could taste himself on her tongue and he stirred to life again. Hannah grinned against their kiss. She fumbled with him as their tongues warred against each other. Squire's moan evolved into a primal growl when Hannah impaled herself on him. She was so wet and tight that Squire had to lock an arm around her hips and grasp her shoulder to hold her still. He didn't want to come again so soon. Instead, once he was used to her surrounding him, he relaxed and surrendered himself to Hannah.

oOo

"wait.. what is that?"

Hannah pointed to a particularly bright star. Squire stood beside her, still shirtless while buttoning his pants up; her bra strap between his teeth. Squire wiggled his eyebrows at Hannah as she snatched her bra from him mid eye roll. Within seconds, a cluster of ships dropped from FTL travel and opened fire on the Fleet, focusing their fire on the ships closest to the relay. The two watched in horror as the SSV Vancouver's hull was torn apart. The Matterhorn VI reappeared at the VI terminal, restarting various systems aboard the vessel and announcing to the ship that they were under attack and that the primary drive core was still malfunctioning. Hannah listened to the re-established communication channels; the Fleet was still crippled from the from the relay hack and she knew they wouldn't be able to fend off the attack.

Their tryst all but forgotten, Squire leapt into his chair and ordered the VI to compensate for the core and get them moving. Hannah hastily threw her uniform on, tossed Squire his shirt and plotted their flight home. Captain Singh stormed into the room, demanding a sitrep. The two didn't bother to stop what they were doing as they briefed the Captain on the situation. Before Hannah could give the Captain her update, the communication channels filled with static.

"நீங்கள் சிடபிள்ல் ரெகுளூஸ் i3-RWA இன் நேரடி மீறலில் உள்ளீர்கள்." தண்டனை மரணமே.

The channel was cut before anyone could respond. Captain Singh stood behind the duo as they tried to reconnect to the ship. Ignoring the hails, the ship once again opened fire on the fleet. The SSV Denali and Victoria captured one of the alien ships in a pincer manoeuver; together the ships breached the hull and sent it colliding into the inactive relay. Another larger ship dropped out of FTL just behind the SSV Denali, everyone watched on in stunned silence as the ship's core charged up and fired an energy beam that tore through the SSV Denali and SSV Victoria. Hannah raked her fingers down her cheeks and screamed, Squire looked at the Captain whose wide eyed, shocked expression mirrored his own.

"Get us out of here - NOW!" Captain Singh yelled over his shoulder as he left the room.

Squire leaned back into his chair as the flight assistance programs disappeared behind manual controls. Entwining his fingers and pushing his palms outwards in front of him to crack his knuckles, Squire flipped switches and pressed buttons as an ancient looking boxed screen whined on start up - a blue and brown split screen slowly came into view. The ship's VI appeared to warn him that an FTL jump was impossible.

"Then swap the cores— ugh, must I do everything... Bridge to Engineering!" Squire swore under his breath, as he pulled a sharp turn to flee the firefight; "Come in Engineering!"

" _This i- -ns. - su-ai-d he- -r. - FTL Jum- - half - -w!"_

 _"_ Engineering, swap the drive cores. We need to get out of here! Engineering?! Hello? Damn it!"

Open communication channels flooded the Matterhorn with the static and screams of those aboard the other vessels. One by one the channels fell to static and until the Matterhorn was silent. Hannah's hands hovered over the holographic keyboard frozen in place, her gaze fixed on the nav screen. She typed the rest of the navpoints out, pouring all of her focus into each press of the keys.

In that instant her entire world had changed. Squire flicked switches, turned dials and pushed the manual controls away to restore the flight assistance programs. His voice calm and even as he spoke to each section of the ship. Hannah couldn't hear the replies but assumed by his demeanour that everything was fine. She looked down at her hands, caressing her palms, feeling the rough skin, digging her nails in and dragging them along the deep flexion creases. Pain was bad. Pain meant she was awake. Pain meant that her friends - her fleet - had just been decimated. Pain meant ... Pain meant they were not the only species alive in the galaxy.

It had been years since the discovery of the Prothean Ruins but there had been no evidence of survivors. They had found other relays and planets with half crumbled mega cities - evidence of once great civilisations fallen to time - but never had they found sentient life. The first ever contact with an alien species ended in the death of hundreds of her comrades. Had the aliens been watching them? Did they know about Earth? Lunar base? The colonies?

A warm wetness kissed her fingertips. Squire's hands pulling apart her own dragged her from her thoughts. Blood slowly pooled around the cuts from her nails. She could barely feel the dull ache.

"What were they?" her thoughts fell out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"I don't know, but you're in shock. Look at me and take deep, slow breaths.. like this.." Squire held Hannah's gaze and breathed slowly and deeply, he tried to keep his grip gentle yet firm to help anchor her to the moment. After his third demonstration of slow breathing Hannah joined in. Confident she could breathe unsupervised, Squire tended to her injured palms. Just as he had finished tying off the last bandage Hannah began to tremble: lightly at first then full tremors. Tears pooled inner eyes, threatening to fall as shook before him.

"Hannah, can you hear me? I will help you to the bed, okay?" Squire gently lifted her to her feet, still maintaining eye contact.

Hannah blinked and Squire could see that she was no longer there. Giant teardrops cascaded down her cheeks, joining at her chin to drop onto her shirt. She grit her teeth to bite back her voice and shook her head. Squire let her fight back against him, not once letting go of her. She thrashed around in his grip, pleading with the VI to do something - anything - to save the others. Against his better judgement Squire sat on the cot in the cockpit, still damp from their earlier exertions, and pulled Hannah into his embrace.

oOo

The ships appeared out of nowhere. _What the hell are those?_ The ship opened fire on the fleet, destroying the SSV Vancouver. Hannah stood alone watching as her fleet, her family, her friends were rocketed from the hull breach. She called to them in silence, holding her arms out for them as they floated off onto the starry abyss. A brilliant light caught her eye. _No. Don't._ The large star ship that had dropped out of FTL - _Not again. Not my friends. Please! -_ shot a focused beam of energy at the SSV Victoria and SSV Denali. She could hear their cries for help over the communication channels. She held her arms out for her friends but they rocketed out of the breached hill away from her. _Why can't I reach you? Why didn't it target us instead?_ Her boots magged up as part of the hull disappeared in another brilliant light. The crew members of the other ships floated around the beach, just out of reach. _Just reach down towards me and grab my hand!_ They floated around her. Lifeless eyes white and glazed over.

Why had it been them? _I'm so sorry._ Why had she been spared? _I don't know, I'm so sorry._ Why did she try to restart the relay? _They were our orders. Please forgive me._ Why wasn't her ship as damaged? _Our VI prioritised us. It shouldn't have. It should have been us. Why wasn't it us?_ Why wasn't it you? _It should have been us. I Did this. It should have been me._

She bolted upright. Her chest heavy and hollow and full of bitterness, hatred and self loathing. Her stomach tight, head pounding, heart torn apart, lungs on fire. Voices echoed in her mind - "it should have been me." Her voice mirrored her thoughts.

"None of this is your fault, Hannah. No one could've known this would happen." Squire sat beside the cot on the ground facing away from her. His arm twisted to hold her hand, his fingers victim to her vice-like grip "We survived. We will warn the Alliance and give back ten times more than what we got."

She twisted onto her side and snuggled into his back, falling back into a restless sleep.

"As if I will let you die." Squire whispered to himself.

oOo

The docking station had barely secured itself to the airlock when Captain Singh and XO Hartley ran through decontamination, followed by the rest of the fleet. Squire and Hannah pushed through the crowd of service people eager to be off the Matterhorn. All around them their peers were carrying people off on makeshift stretchers or leaning on one another for support as they hobbled through decontamination. White sheets laid out near the dock covered the bodies of those who didn't survive the journey. Scorch marks marred the crisp white paintwork of the ship's hull - proof that the attack was real.

"I didn't realise the ship was this damaged." Hannah tore her eyes from the scene to keep pace with Squire; "Good thing we could get away."

Squire's kept his eyes trained forward as his lips pressed into a thin line and his grip on her hand tightened. Hannah wondered if they had not been able to get away? was he blaming himself for the damage to the ship?

"Yeah, it's a hell of a thing" was his only comment, keeping silent as they walked to the Alliance HQ.

The problem with Hannah was that she knew what to say and when. Hannah felt guilty about the attack at the relay; she blamed herself for her friends dying; she blamed herself for not catching the Cyber attack sooner; she blamed herself for not forcing the Matterhorn VI to restore the life support systems on the other ships.

Not that she would ever admit to any of it.

The SSV Matterhorn was the only ship to make it back from the relay activation. The Alliance Brass had ordered the entire ship's company to undergo psychiatric evaluation after they had submitted their reports. Hannah felt responsible for the deaths of her friends and the destruction of the fleet and she'd be damned if she let them put her on psychiatric leave or worse Cat-6 her. So for her mandatory evaluation she was the picture of health.

 _Maintain eye contact "_ I am devastated by their loss, but that is the reality of war" _I will find these bastards and avenge my friends._

"The mission went perfectly. There was no way anyone could've known" _The relay needed to be overridden, that was not standard, I should have known!_

"Our VI did everything it could for the other ships but their systems were too far gone." _Why didn't the surviving crew members get into a shuttle? We could have intercepted them and withdrawn!_

Hannah stepped out of the office into Arcturus Station's artificial afternoon. The sun lingered in the sky as clouds rolled past. If she closed her eyes, she could almost hear birds chirping, could almost feel the wind in her hair. The datapad given to her by the psychiatrist flashed green. She had passed her evaluation and was fit for duty. Over by the lake she spied Squire sitting alone, his head resting in his hands and her heart froze. Did he fail? When she blinked, she was standing beside him looking out over the lake. He didn't shift from his position. Hannah knew he was suffering–they all were–but she had no idea how to help him through the pain. Knowing there were no words, she sat beside him and placed a hand on his knee. The gesture was small, but she hoped it would offer comfort. Squire grabbed her arm and pulled her onto his lap, his eyes were red and his face was blotchy. Hannah climbed into Squire's lap and pulled him into her. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, a strangled cry escaped his lips as he sobbed.

She gently stroked his hair, gently crooning in his ear that everything was ok now, they were safe. But deep down she knew it was a lie. She rocked him back and forth while stroking his hair and allowed herself to cry silently into his hair.


End file.
